In vehicle manufacturing, for instance, it is often necessary to interconnect electrical lines. For example, electrical cables can be connected to one another. Frequently used for this purpose are plug-in connectors, such as in the form of plugs and plug sockets, in which a contact cavity or a plurality of contact cavities is/are provided inside a plug housing. A contact, connected to a respective electrical line, is situated in each contact cavity and locked therein. The contact is designed to establish an electrically conductive connection with a correspondingly developed mating contact of a counterplug or a socket connector once the plug has been plugged into the counterplug or the plug socket.
During the production of such plugs, the contacts, onto whose rear end the associated cables may be crimped, are inserted into the individual contact cavities. To prevent the contacts from slipping out of the contact cavities when pulling on the cables, for instance, the contacts are often locked in the contact cavities in a form-locking manner. In one frequently used development of the contacts, an outwardly projecting and inwardly deflectable catch element, such as a primary catch arm, is provided on the housing of the contact for this purpose. This primary catch arm projects obliquely outwardly beyond the housing of the contact, counter to a plug-in direction in which the contact is inserted into the contact cavity when the plug connector is assembled. When sliding the contact into the contact cavity, the primary catch arm is first elastically deformed in the inward direction, in order to then allow it to rebound into a recess in the contact cavity once it has reached its target position, to thereby latch the contact inside the contact cavity. In German Patent Application No. DE 10 2009 054705 A1, an electrical contact is described for plug-in connectors having a primary catch arm that projects outwardly and is inwardly deflectable.
Increasingly higher mechanical demands are placed on plug-in connectors and the contacts used therein, especially when they are intended for use in motor vehicles. On the one hand, for the uncomplicated assembly of the contacts in the contact cavities, the primary catch arm should be able to be elastically compressed with as little force as possible and then return to its initial position in order to allow a contact to be latched inside a contact cavity in a simple and reliable manner. On the other, the latching of the contacts inside the contact cavities of the plug should be as reliable and secure as possible so as to prevent an unintentional pullout of contacts, for instance when pulling on the cables crimped onto the contacts. Especially in the case of miniaturized contacts, on which high mechanical demands are placed despite a small size and low material thicknesses, it may be difficult to satisfy these contradictory demands.